


The Nightmare Beckons

by Rosenth0rne



Category: I Feel Sick (Comic), Invader Zim, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
Genre: Choose Your Own Ending, Dreams, F/M, Kidnapping, M/M, Multi, Nightmares, Other, Truthshrieker, ambiguous reader, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2020-05-12
Packaged: 2020-12-16 17:24:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21039950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosenth0rne/pseuds/Rosenth0rne
Summary: Warning: Do not hit 'Entire Work'. After Chapter 2, the story splits into two paths. Choice A will be found on odd-numbered chapters and Choice B will be found on even-numbered chapters. If you go in order, you may confuse yourself.When your dreams start to turn into a single, recurring nightmare, you seek counsel from those you trust. Something dark is beckoning you away from the waking world and it is relentless. It doesn't help either that he looks like a certain world-renowned scientist.Nothing explicit. I added a mature rating due to JTHM and I Feel Sick being geared toward an older audience.





	1. The Beckoning

Your dreams weren’t anything interesting. Sure, some were off the wall and zany, while others were just so real it could have been just another day in your life. You’d have the off dream that you’d remember when you’d wake and recount to others later in vivid detail, but other than that, they would usually disappear soon after you awoke. At least, that’s how it used to be. You don’t know when or how it started, but the dreams seemed to linger much longer than they used to. 

One particular dream began to stand out. It slowly ate away at the other dreams to the point that it was the only one left other than a dark, dreamless sleep. Once things started to escalate, you were wishing more and more for the dreamless nights.

You would find yourself in an area you favored in real life, only it looked as if all the color was either muted or drained. The landscape was ashen with a deep purple sky decorated with swirling ominous clouds. All plant life was withered and everyday items would be either heavily warped or in an advanced stage of decay. You didn’t often feel the temperature in your dreams, but it was cold, cold enough to see your breath. 

The only thing out of place in this setting was a single flower on the ground at your feet. Not only was it your favorite color, but it was also your favorite species. It wasn’t withered or dead like the rest. When you picked it up to look at it, you would hear a man’s deep voice whisper to you. Each time it would be something different but it was always gentle.

_ “I miss you.” _

_ “Come back to me.” _

_ “Don’t be afraid. It’s me.” _

_ “Can you hear me?” _

_ “Please answer.” _

_ “Y/N…” _

_ “Do you remember me?” _

It was strange, but you swore you’ve heard that voice before. Somewhere in the waking world. You just couldn’t put your finger on it.

When the dreams first started, something would appear behind you after you picked up the flower, leaning in just enough to catch in your peripherals but when you looked, you woke up. Whatever it was, it was very tall and very pale. Once or twice, you felt cold, claw-like hands gently grab your shoulders from behind and felt as if you were about to be embraced. When this happened, you panicked and startled yourself awake without having to look at the being. Nothing would be out of the ordinary when you awoke other than the pounding of your heart and the cold feeling of those same hands on your shoulders.

“Could be stress and anxiety. You should get out more.”

“Tenna, come on. Don’t listen to her, Y/N. That’s her advice for everything.”

“What? It worked for you didn’t it?” Tenna’s voice whined.

“Well, it’s the best advice I’ve gotten so far, Devi,” you sighed as you ran a hand through your hair, staring at the three-way call screen which involved two of your ex-neighbors. Despite moving to your current situation, the three of you had done a surprisingly good job of keeping in touch with one another. While Tenna was still in the area, Devi had gone off to Japan to work on an art project she was hired to do. “I’ve scoured the dream dictionaries and sites. Nothing fits what I’ve seen and this isn’t going away.”

“How long has it been?” Tenna asked. 

“I don’t know? Four months maybe?”

“ _ N-NANI?! _ Jeezus, you’ve been dealing with this for that long?!”

“Well, it wasn’t as prominent back then. It was still mixed in with other dreams. It’s the earliest time that I remember it. Over time, it just began eating the others.”

“You could try not sleeping,” Devi chimed in. 

“Oh yeah, and regret every day of my life after that,” you grumbled sarcastically. “Coffee and energy drinks would only do so much.”

“Hm. Maybe it’s just negative energy causing it, ya know? I think I have an authentic Native American dream catcher laying around here somewhere. I could maybe swing by and drop it off.”

“Dream catcher?” you muttered under your breath. 

“Yeah! It’s supposed to help capture bad dreams and let the good ones through. You hang it over your bed when you sleep. The nightmares get tangled in the web part and the good dreams are supposed to trickle down the feathers and into your head.”

“No, I know what a dream catcher is. Do you honestly think it’s something that would warrant that kind of attention?”

An ‘I dunno’ shrug sound came through Tenna’s side of the call. 

“It’s worth a try, I guess.”

“Or, and stay with me on this- Or maybe it’s some nightmarish eldritch horror that just wants your booty,” Devi teased. You could already hear her fingers wiggling through the tone of her voice. “It clearly wants your attention.”

“Oooooh! Spooooooky booty call!” Tenna laughed. You couldn’t help but crack a smile and snicker. 

“Mr. ‘Tall-Dark-and-Spooky’ skipped the whole painful, cheesy pick-up lines and went straight to stalking me. In my dreams no less. Yeah. Can totally see that. I mean hell, it can’t be any worse than the real-life dates I’ve been on. Maybe an interdimensional being could be a step up.”

“PREACH!” Devi exclaimed. Your mind’s eye could see Devi throwing her hands up over her head energetically with her head back at her desk.

“Dude, if that’s the case, see if he has a brother. Or sister. Or hell, I don’t care! I’m single and ready to mingle!”

“Your monster-fucker side is showing, Tenna,” Devi muttered and the three of you burst out into laughter.

“Mmmm, Monster booty…”

“I don’t even know what he looks like,” you shook your head as you sat back in your computer chair.

“I don’t care. Bring him on!”

After another burst of laughter, Devi sighed. 

“Anyway, life is a perpetual crotch shot with a bowling ball. It literally could be anything causing this. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, Y/N. Dreams are usually weird and there might not be a meaning. We, humans, tend to try to attach meaning to everything in our chaotic world to try to keep our sanity.”

“I was starting to lean toward that.”

“We could get a psychic or something. Someone who can interpret dreams on the fly instead of by textbook,” Tenna suggested. “I know there’s one a few streets over from me. We can make a day of it. I promise it’s not psychic fat.”

“Not after the plane crash, it’s not,” Devi snorted.

“That’s an idea.”

It didn’t take long for you to remember why you didn’t go out with Tenna all that often. The woman was everywhere, be it in conversation or running off to look at whatever. As much as you loved her as a friend, she was quite the energy vampire and being around her made you… tired.

“I miss Devi…” you muttered which perked her attention.

“Cuz she’s fun?”

_ ‘Because she was a human shield I could use on you,’  _ you thought to yourself then shook your head, eyes darting away. “Uh, yeah. That too.”

“I miss her too, but I think this was something she had to do,” Tenna shrugged. With a loud gasp, she ran off once more with a loud squeal. “LOOKIT! SPOOKIES!”

You wandered up next to her and looked into a shop window where her face was planted against. Just inside the glass, you could see a bunch of various sized black and white skeleton toys, ranging from squeakies to plushes. 

“Isn’t your room covered in these things?” you raised a brow.

“... Yes… but they have a limited edition Pumpkin Spooky!” she whined and pointed to one of the few Spookies that weren’t black, but orange with Jack-o-lantern faces. She suddenly pushed herself off the glass with such force that it shook the entire window. “Be right back! MUST. HAVE. PUMPKIN SPOOKY!”

If you blinked, you would have missed a grown woman diving into the toy shop with wild abandon. Screaming of children and crashing followed. With a tired sigh, you stared down at the dolls while allowing your mind to wander. Tenna had already dropped the dream catcher off at your place so was there really any need for a psychic? You hadn’t even tried out the trinket yet. The more you stared at the toys, the heavier your eyes felt. Tenna must’ve taken a lot more out of you than you thought.

Snapping your eyes opened, you straightened yourself up and rubbed your head, but paused when a strange reflection caught your eye. The street behind you had changed drastically in a flash. Just beyond your own reflection, the toys had transformed into twisted, living versions of themselves frolicking as if it was a pet store. A gnarled hand reached down, snatched one of the creatures, then threw it into a gaping mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. You jumped back from the sight.

“What the…?!” you whispered to yourself before glancing around at the rest of your surroundings. The same ashen landscape with the violent purple sky. Same distorted buildings and fixtures. “Am I asleep? Tenna?”

No answer. When you turn back to the window and look up at the glass, you froze at the sight of someone standing behind you in the reflection.

_ “Don’t be afraid. Please...” _

The figure was that of a very tall man in a pristine white floor-length coat that covered the lower half of his face. He watched your reflection through light purple lenses of what seemed to be goggles. On his head, was a familiar lightning bolt-shaped- hair? Wait, you’ve seen this man somewhere, maybe not this exact man but maybe a look-alike? For the first time in any of your dreams, your mouth opened and words escaped.

“Who… Who are you…?”

_ “You know who I am…” _

“Do I? I don’t think I do…” you reached up to rub your head again. “Did I hit my head?”

_ “Yes, but that’s not the point. Come back to me…”  _ the figure reached out a clawed hand to you in the reflection. It appeared in your peripherals and you were able to see what had grabbed you previously. As he spoke a soft squeaking could be heard and it began to grow louder.

“I don’t understand… How…”

_ “Just let go and come with me,” _ he pressed softly. 

“Let go? Wait, wait,” you waved your hands then turned to face him and crossed your arms. You should have been absolutely terrified by the figure standing before you but for some reason, you weren’t. “This isn’t one of those ‘if I go with you, I die for real in my sleep’ thing, is it?”

_ “Uhhhhhh… I don’t-” _

“Or was that a movie trope?” you rubbed your jaw then shook your head. The squeaking steadily grew louder but you paid no mind to it. Weirder things were happening. Besides, you were so used to Tenna with Spooky, it has become second nature. “Regardless, I don’t know if I can trust you. You’ve been showing up in my dreams for ages now and I don’t- You know what? Nevermind. None of this is even real. This is just all a bout of stress and anxiety. Nothing more.”

_ “Not real?”  _ he reached out to take your hand, clasping lightly around your wrist. You could feel the cold metal against your skin, causing you to wince out of surprise. Not only could you feel that, but you could feel the hand entirely. _ “My love, I assure you that this is very- WHERE IS THAT SQUEAKING COMING FROM!?” _

The being tore himself away from you in clear anger, looking around quickly while clenching his hands as the squeaking became so loud, you could barely hear anything else. The last thing you saw before a flash of light took you was the being turning and reaching out to grab you out of haste.

_ “NO! Not now! Y/N!” _

The squeaking continued until you opened your eyes. The blurred vision of a Pumpkin Spooky squeaky toy came into view and once your vision cleared, you found Tenna squatting over you, squeaking it. Several people were standing over you as well, making you realize that you were laid out on your back with hard concrete under you. A sharp pain cut through your forehead.

“Nurse! The patient is coming to!” Tenna growled in a deep, funny voice and another Spooky toy appeared beside the Pumpkin Spooky, this time with a high pitched voice.

“Oh, you did it, doctor! My hero!” 

Tenna then proceeded to make the original Spooky kiss the Pumpkin one.

“Don’t thank me yet! The ambulance is on the way!” the Pumpkin Spooky announced.

“No, no ambulance! Those things are expensive…” you groaned as you pushed the two away. Tenna only let out a snicker. “Dammit, Tenna. What happened?”

“Not sure. I think you passed out,” she moved slightly to look back at the window of the toy shop. There in the center of the glass was a spidering impact mark with blood splattering it. “It kinda looks like an attempted murder took place.”

“Yeah, no shit…” you growled, pushing yourself up quickly. Bad mistake. Pain shot through worse this time. “What did I do? Launch myself toward it?”

Tenna only shrugged.

“The owner said that insurance should cover it so the good news here is that you won’t have to pay for it!”

“Yay…”

Touching your head, you felt it wet and kinda sticky from what you could guess was blood. There had to be a gash or a cut somewhere. Hopefully, the impact wasn’t enough to make you go batshit insane down the road.

“Hey! When did you get that tattoo? Wait, you went and got one without me?!” Tenna scoffed.

Tattoo? What tattoo? Bringing your hand down to look at it, you froze. Not from the blood on your fingers but from the deep black marks on your wrist. A brief flashback to the dream made you realize the marks matched the claw-like fingers of that man. Your heart dropped into the pit of your stomach and chills rushed up from the base of your spine.

“It… was real?” you muttered to yourself, ignoring the fact that an ambulance had pulled up and you were now being surrounded by paramedics. They ushered Tenna aside before starting to ask you questions.

It took several attempts to assure the paramedics that you were okay and didn’t need to go with them after they bandaged a minor abrasion. As much as you thought about seeing a therapist at the hospital for this, you really didn’t need a $500 bill attached to that for the ride over. 

“Don’t go to sleep,” one of the paramedics warned as he climbed into the back of the ambulance. “You may still have a concussion and you won’t wake up if you do.”

The chills were back. You stood there, opening and closing your mouth like a fish, staring at the man. Not wake up?! The thought of being stuck in the nightmare world you had become accustomed to seeing started to fill you with dread. You oddly found that more terrifying than actually dying and ceasing to exist. 

“Dude, that’s just a myth,” another chimed from inside the vehicle. “If they are holding a conversation and don’t have dilated pupils or have trouble walking, they’re fine.”

“Oh. Well. Better to be safe than sorry,” the guy shrugged then closed the door to the vehicle that immediately took off. You gave a relieved, but still cautious, sigh. Yeah. Better safe than sorry. You weren’t going to sleep for the next two days to make sure. Tenna waved her Pumpkin Spooky after them before turning it to you.

“A life saved and a job well done!” she exclaimed in the silly deep voice again, making you roll your eyes. “Thanks to Dr. Hallo-Spooky, Nurse Spooky, and their God, Tenna!”

“You didn’t even do anything.”

“Uh-huh! I called AMR- Oh, wait, that was the store owner that did that…” Tenna rubbed her chin with the Pumpkin Spooky. “I stayed by your side and performed a puppet show on your unconscious body, does that count?”

“No, cuz I didn’t get to see it!” you cracked a smile.

“Then I must perform an encore!” Tenna threw her arms out but you shook your head.

“Not now. We were out here for a reason.”

“What was that?”

“... The Psychic? Remember?”

“Oh yeah! We’re not far! Let’s go!”

With Tenna leading the way and lost in a new puppet show between her Spookies, you thought back to the vision or dream or whatever it was. This being insisted you knew who he was. He called you ‘his love’. He had the ability to do whatever he did to your wrist that made it show up in the waking world. You pressed the same hand to your abrasion. If he was able to do that, could he have done the damage to the glass? Would you cause something like that if you just passed out on your own? Could that have been why he wanted you to ‘let go’, thinking it would have been enough to end you?

“I… saw him again… Back there. This time I actually saw him,” you muttered softly. You could see Tenna watching you out of your peripherals.

“Saw him? Oh, you mean the nightmare thingy!”

“Yeah. I spoke to him.”

“Did he say how much he wanted your butt?”

“No, but he said for me to ‘let go and go with him’.”

“Ooooh, kinky,” Tenna teased as she elbowed you suggestively. “Probably wanted to go somewhere a little more private, huh?”

“Can you be serious about this? I’m still kinda freaked out about all of it,” you grumbled. “You do remember I’ve been going through this for months now, right?”

“Sorry. So, what did he look like?”

“Well…” you started but before you could go into detail, Tenna let out a huge gasp.

“Cool! The Membracelet’s coming in out in new colors!” 

You and Tenna had passed an old pawnshop with various TVs in the window. One each one of the screens was a Membrane Labs for the next generation of the Membracelet. “Oh, I am going to ROCK that lime green one! Look! There’s a color you’d wear, Y/N!”

You leaned in to peer at the four new shades when it switched to a picture of a familiar figure in white with a deep voice explaining the new features that come in addition to the shades and you recoil in shock. 

“It’s him!” you gasped then covered your mouth. That was a lot louder than you meant it to be. A couple of people who were walking past slowed down to stare at you, making you clear your throat nervously.

“Damn right it is!” Tenna snickered then curled her hand around her chin. “Maybe I can hit up the store before it closes to snag me one!”

“N-No, that’s not what I mean…” 

You paused from going any further. How crazy would it sound to anyone that a world-renowned scientist was stalking you in your dreams, or at least some twisted version of him? How you couldn’t figure out the similarities sooner was another story. Then there was the whole ‘why you’ thing. Now there were several things going on in your head and it was becoming harder to think straight. 

“You okay? You’re looking paler than normal,” Tenna leaned into view with a concerned look.

“Let’s just… keep going…” you whispered. “The sooner we get this over with, the better.”

Tenna didn’t argue but followed close behind. What exactly could be done about this was beyond you. 

By the time you and Tenna made it to the psychic’s place, a short, older woman in majestic robes with brown hair that was clearly a wig was locking the shop up.

“Hey, wait! You were supposed to be open for two more hours!” Tenna exclaimed when she looked at the hours of operation.

“Sorry kids. New Membracelet is out. Need me one beforah the purple’s sold out,” she announced in a grisly, smoker’s voice with a heavy New Jersey accent. “Come back tomarrah-”

“Wait, please! Just year hear me out!” you pleaded, forcing your blackened wrist forward at the fear that you would only be brushed off. There was no way you were going to wait until tomorrow. You quickly explained your situation to the woman who stared down at your wrist in horror.

“Ah…” she started, looking away nervously. “You’ve attracted a demon…”

“Don’t pull the whole ‘I need a priest thing’ please,” you narrowed your eyes. 

“Yeah, you and priests don’t get along. Not after we drank all the communion wine before the event and made water balloons filled with holy water during a summer Bible event!” Tenna grinned. 

“That was you and Devi!” you shot a look at Tenna.

“Oh yeah. That was fun! I don’t think either of us is allowed back in any catholic church after that.”

You rolled your eyes then turned your attention back to the woman.

“A priest won’t be able to help you. It’s not that kind of demon. It is not attached to any religion or anything of our world,” the woman explained. “This isn’t good.”

“Well? What can be done about it?” Tenna tilted her head. The women fell quiet then gave a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry. There’s nothin’ that can be done. No one has evah survived a situation like this so there’s little that can deter it. All I can say is ya may wanna get your affairs in order,” the woman shook her head then turned her head to an upper window. “STANLEY! YOU WERE SUPPOSE’TA BRING DA CAAH AROUND! I AIN’T WALKIN’ WITH THESE STUBBY LEGS!”

“WALK?! YOU DON’T WALK! YOU WADDLE!” a man’s voice, almost identical to the woman’s called back.

“STANLEY YOU SON OF A BITCH, GET YER ASS DOWN HERE NOW!” the woman yelled before turning to you and Tenna. “Ah, I love that man. But what can ya do? He really rustles mah jimmies!”

You didn’t know what horrified you more. The fact that you were told there was nothing that could do for you and you had a timer placed on your head or the fact that this woman was about to go through her whole sex life right then and there, in the middle of the street. 

“HOLY HELL WOMAN! NO!” Tenna covered her ears. “I mean good for you but sheesh! No one wants to hear about the elderly getting it on!”

“Kid, I’m 34.”

“Oh, jeezus…”

“Marriage does this to ya. Ages ya 20 ta 30 years. Don’t get married.”

“Noted.” Tenna pointed. “Though I’m… oddly intrigued…”

As the two went back and forth over disturbing anecdotes, you started to wander off for home, wondering what the hell you were going to do and if the woman was correct. There had to be something that could be done. Sure, you did have the dream catcher, but what if that didn’t work? Maybe it’ll give you enough time to find out a solution other than not sleeping entirely. 


	2. The Path Splits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you reach out for help on the internet, it comes in the form of a very familiar form. Only smaller. And more excitable. 
> 
> From here on, the story will split into two paths. Be sure to choose an ending here to continue on a certain path, one leading down to a Reader/Professor Membrane story and the other leading down to a Reader/Nightmare Membrane story. I'm going to try my best to keep up with this. I may keep the Professor Membrane story on even chapter numbers and the Nightmare Membrane story on odd chapter numbers. Follow the instructions at the end in order to figure out where to go next as I will try to upload one of each story at the same time.

** _Agent ReaderInsert:_ ** _ … And that’s where I am now. Any advice? _

** _Agent AnonSnake: _ ** _ Oh hell, that’s rough. I wish I knew what to say. Hope you find a solution soon. _

** _Agent Fingerpoops: _ ** _ Hire an exorcist- Oh wait, you said it wasn’t something they could handle. Well, damn. _

** _Agent Batflaps: _ ** _ You’re so full of shit. This sounds like a horrible, half-assed horror-romance novel stay-at-home moms cook up cuz they’re bored! I bet he sparkles in the sunlight too! _

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ I assure you that, if I am, it’s due to the seven cups of coffee I just downed to stay awake. How about coming up with a real answer to the problem I am having? I really don’t want to have to walk around with a large dream catcher around my neck for the rest of my life! _

Your eye twitched heavily at the responses you were receiving. Some were in the same boat you were in with not knowing what to do while others were quick to try to debunk your experiences and ignored the plea for help. 

At a loss for what to do, you had turned to, surprise surprise, the internet to help solve this issue, mainly the TruthShrieker Online forums. Normally, you wouldn’t have interacted with this particular site, but you were desperate. So desperate that the coffee and dream catcher parts weren’t lies. You had created several very strong pots of coffee that were within arm’s reach at any given time and strung a heavy-duty string around the top of the dream catcher so you could wear it as a necklace just in case you fell asleep without realizing it.

With a groan, you dropped your head onto the desk in front of the keyboard. You sideglanced the clock to find that it was 3 a.m. No wonder you were tired. Devi was off working on something and you could bet Tenna was sound asleep among all of her Spooky dolls. There really wasn’t anyone else that you talked to. Making new friends wasn’t your strong suit.

Your ears pricked to the sound of a new message ding which made you look up. 

** _Agent Mothman:_ ** _ Don’t listen to him. He’s just jealous he couldn’t make something as terrifying as your situation up. Lack of imagination. PM me. I think I can help. _

** _Agent Batflaps: _ ** _ I am not! Don’t listen to this guy! He’s such a fake! _

The message made your heart skip a beat and you snatched up your keyboard to type up a reply as quick as your fingers could.

** _Agent ReaderInsert:_ ** _ You think you can really help me? _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ I can do my best. Sounds like your mind has somehow tapped into the Nightmare dimension. I’m not exactly sure how, but it’s happened to me in a way, though my situation was a little… different. _

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ I see. Any help is greatly appreciated. _

** _Agent Batflaps: _ ** _ You’re going to have to learn the hard way, I guess. Sucks to be you. _

** _Agent ReaderInsert:_ ** _ Just go away. You’re not helping anyone. _

You ended up blocking Agent Batflaps when he started to private message you about Agent Mothman, badmouthing him left and right without offering any proof to back up his claims. 

“Jeezus, what a dick,” you growled under your breath before another private message popped up from Agent Mothman this time. You clicked on it with zero thought.

After some pleasantries, he began to recount a situation where he used some sort of dimensional scope in order to test a theory of his out as well as to get a cool costume idea. While he admitted that he believed what he went through was a result of his mind being traumatized by the real thing and going haywire with it, what he described matched up flawlessly what you had been witnessing each time you fell asleep.

** _Agent Mothman:_ ** _ Even my family were twisted versions of themselves. I also had one that was locked up in a version of the ‘Crazy House for Boys’. I would imagine if it were the real nightmare dimension, everyone would have a version. _

As much as you wanted to go into detail about _ who _was stalking you, you really didn’t want this person thinking it was just some sick fan overly obsessing over a real-life celebrity with some twisted fanfiction. It was probably best to keep it being a nightmare version of Professor Membrane under wraps. With the way you described him, you left out the hair scythe and goggles out so it was more likely that people pictured wider, hairier Slenderman instead. You didn’t need Agent Mothman to drop you in your time of need.

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ So there should be a version of me, right? _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ Most definitely. Maybe we need to find that version to keep this guy at bay. But, that may entail you having to fall asleep in order to re-enter the Nightmare Realm again. _

Your fingers froze on the keys with your eyes glued to the last message. Re-enter the Nightmare Realm? Was that what happened earlier that day? It was a different area than the previous dreams or visions. But then again, _ he _ was there. Concerns started to be raised here and there in your mind. Hesitantly, you began to type again.

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ Are you sure that’s the only way? What if he tries to take me? _

The answer didn’t come immediately. In fact, you found yourself staring at the bottom line much longer than intended, hoping to see ‘Agent Mothman is typing…’. You had to get up and find things to do while you waited for an answer, desperately hoping that you didn’t just get dropped. 

“Relax. It is late at night. He could have fallen asleep at the keyboard,” you tried to reassure yourself. How lucky was he if that were the case? To sleep without any worry of facing horrific things that you may not wake up from…

When the reply finally came in, you had already cleaned your entire place, vacuumed four times, and baked three different types of desserts. It was already 8 a.m. and you were having a hard time keeping awake as it was.

**_Agent Mothman:_** _I won’t let him take you. I’ll contact you after school and we can figure out how to handle this with minimal risk to you. We’re studying for exams today. If we weren’t, I would have skipped school to help more._

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ Thank you. That’s very comforting to hear. Good luck with your college exams. _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ You’re welcome. Oh! They aren’t college exams. I’m in 7th grade, and though I am eligible to skip some grades, my dad thinks it’s best that I socialize with kids my age first. _

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ O______O’ OH. I did not realize you were that young! _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ It’s okay. Most new people think I’m older due to my knowledge of science and the paranormal. _

Well. You didn’t see that coming. Now you wanted to go hand Agent Batflaps his ass for badmouthing a child. You at least knew that idiot was an adult. Just as you wished the boy luck on his school exams once more, he sent one last message:

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ Whatever you do, DON’T. FALL. ASLEEP. _

** _Agent ReaderInsert: _ ** _ … Trust me, I’m trying not to. _

Once you knew he had logged off, you began to try to find something to do with yourself. Video games, drawing, writing, something. Anything. You couldn’t keep trying to clean things that weren’t there. You thought about going for a run or heading out to get a bagel at a local shop but you nixed both ideas. Running would only tire you out more and each time you went to get a bagel, you got stared down by a very angry looking gray squirrel that ranted about problems in society. While you found it very hard to disagree with him, his high voice grated on your ears.

“Squirrels don’t talk,” you remembered Devi telling you over a previous call.

“This one does and it’s creepy,” you replied. “He’s always with some guitar-playing goth chick. I think he’s her pet or something. He’s always talking about being a ‘Lord and Master’ of… something.”

“Damn, what drugs are you taking and where can I get some?!” Tenna nearly screamed.

With that off the table, you tried to figure out what you actually did when you were off work or having ‘me time’.

“Daydream. And. Sleep,” you groaned to yourself. Of course. Those were your two favorite things. None of your other hobbies could measure up. “Okay… Time to learn a new hobby…”

Pulling up YouBoob™, you started to look through various channels. Over the next six hours, you tried your hand at knitting, woodworking, journaling, costuming, and trying to prepare fugu the correct way without killing anyone for the hell of it.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for you and the rest of the world), the bigoted guy next door, who was known for his extreme prejudices and had given you issues in the past, decided to snatch the fish from you as you tried to dispose of it and ate it. He claimed it was an expensive delicacy that no one could get locally and that you were an idiot for trying to throw it out. At least it was a good way to find out that it wasn’t made correctly and you were happy you didn’t offer yourself up as a test subject. 

When the cops and AMR guys came to bag up his body, they didn’t seem too interested in finding out where the pufferfish came from. They probably saw all the neo-nazi crap scattered across his place and chalked it up to ‘death by stupidity’. Well, they wouldn’t be wrong. You would think if he knew that pufferfish was a delicacy in Asian cultures, he would have known it had to be prepared properly or you’d die from the toxins. You were far from a dedicated chef to make it safe and only wanted to mess around with new things to stay awake. Besides, the guys at the docks constantly caught pufferfishes in their nets and discarded them on a regular basis.

“The Darwin award this year goes to... Andrew,” you muttered to yourself as you watched the paramedics load the black body bag into the ambulance and take off. The fact of what he was and how he treated people outweighed the regret of killing someone for you. You couldn’t even blame it on being dead tired. You still weren’t over the horrible things he called Devi and Tenna when they refused his advances the last time they visited you. For a white supremacist, he didn’t seem to mind hitting on people who weren’t ‘as white as snow’ or ‘clearly descendants of true Aryans’ as he usually boasted. Dumb ass. 

Though, you made a side note that _ maybe _ it wasn’t such a good idea to try to prepare pufferfish when you were nearly dead from lack of sleep, if at all. Next time, it could have been someone you’d actually feel bad over.

You returned to your desk and started to go through any emails or whatnot, trying to busy your mind which was becoming increasingly difficult. Surely, any second now, Agent Mothman would send another message to keep your attention. With a glance at the clock, you scoffed. It was only 2 p.m. The kid wouldn’t be off school for another hour, not counting time to arrive home and settle in. As you stared at the clock, you felt your eyelids become heavy again. There would be no harm closing your eyes for a few seconds, right? What were they called? Micro naps? With a sigh, you closed your eyes while leaning your head against your fist. Not a second later, the deep voice was back. The only difference was, you didn’t see anything but darkness. 

_ “Finally, you’re- What?! Why can’t I-?!” _

Your eyebrows furrowed some with your eyes still closed at a light tugging around your neck. 

_ “Blasted- Infernal- Thing! Why are you-?! GAH! Y/N! Wake up and take that off immediately!” _

The more the voice growled and grumbled, the further you felt yourself fall into a deep, dreamless sleep. The voice started to fade as well. For the first time in months, you were relaxed and at ease. All your thoughts, cares, and worries seemed to melt away in an instant. There was no twisted nightmare realm or nightmare version of a famous guy awaiting your return. It was just a black void you could see yourself floating in. 

However, just as you began to curl up, a noise echoed through the inky blackness. Huh. There it went again. It took a moment for you to identify it and once you did, your eyes flew open. It was the sound of a private message coming through. Your body jolted to attention in your computer chair. The jolt had knocked into the mouse which woke your computer as well, bathing the now dark room in bright, white light. Wait, dark?

Pushing away from the desk, you went to the window and looked out. Twilight. Nothing looked out of the ordinary. You were in the waking world. Another glance at the clock made you realize that you had been asleep for four hours. It was already six o’clock. What was even better, you felt energized. Elated by this, you rushed back to your computer to find several messages from Agent Mothman.

** _Agent Mothman:_ ** _ (three hours ago) I’m back. Sorry, I had to tend to another… problem. I hope staying up wasn’t too bad. _

** _Agent Mothman:_ ** _ Hello? Agent ReaderInsert? _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ (two hours ago) I’m hoping you’re just away from the computer right now. Falling asleep might be the last thing you do right now. _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ (one hour ago) Oh god, you fell asleep didn’t you?! Okay! Uh, if you don’t answer in the next hour, I’m going to track you by your I.P. address to come to wake you up! Oh, wait, I don’t even know if you’re in my area… I’ll… I’ll be right back! _

** _Agent Mothman: _ ** _ (thirty minutes ago) Sorry! Couldn’t wait! Time is of the essence! You’re in the City’s downtown area! That’s good! I’m on my way! Please be okay! _

You blinked. Track you by your I.P. address? That should have creeped you out to no end but in this situation, you understood his fear. Before you could type up a response, you heard banging down the hall. 

“Hi! I’m sorry, but are you Agent ReaderInsert?!” a boy’s voice asked breathlessly. A door slamming followed and then another banging. “Hi! Agent ReaderInsert? Does he or she or- uh… Do they live here?”

Another door slam. You pushed yourself up to head to the door only to hear a loud dramatic gasp.

“NOOOOOO! I’M TOO LATE! AGENT READERINSERT! I’M SORRY! I’M SO SORRY!”

Upon opening the door and looking in the direction of Andrew’s apartment, you found a small boy with black hair and large glasses in a black trench coat over a blue ghost shirt on his knees, crying to the heavens above. It looked exactly like a defeated moment you’d see in some hero movies. The only thing missing was the rain.

“Uhhhh…” you started before understanding the boy’s reaction. Andrew’s apartment was taped off by ‘Do Not Cross’ police tape. Oh yeah. You unintentionally killed a man. Or assisted in his suicide. Whatever. You cleared your throat about three times, each one louder than the last to try to get the boy’s attention.

“Huh?” the dark-haired boy looked over, tears streaming his face.

“Over here, kiddo. That’s an entirely different situation you want no part of,” you crossed your arms and leaned against your doorway. The boy wiped his face on his sleeve before pushing himself up. His eyes glanced down at your chest and his expression brightened. 

“You’re Agent ReaderInsert!” he sniffled, rushing up to meet you. “I’m Agent Mothman, but you can call me Dib!”

“I… kind of figured. I’m Y/N. Sorry for not answering you, I actually fell asleep,” you rubbed the back of your head guiltily then followed his gaze to the large dream catcher around your neck. “Oh, I forgot about that.”

“You did?! Did you see him again?!”

You shook your head.

“No… I heard him though. He sounded like he was trying to invade my dreams again but couldn’t. I think it was due to this,” you slipped your hands under the dream catcher to look at it only to frown. It was whole when you put it on. Now four of the strings around the hoop looked like they had been cut down the center of each string by something very sharp. A chill ran up your spine.

“Judging by your terrified expression, I take it that the dream catcher didn’t look like that when you put it on,” Dib raised a brow. You turned to walk into your apartment, staring down at the trinket. The boy reluctantly followed, his gaze still on you. 

“I don’t understand… There’s no way… How?!” you whispered. Moving the hoop aside, you noticed small cuts in your shirt as well. “O-Oh…!”

“This is worse than I thought,” he murmured. He moved to your coffee table and pulled a laptop from a small black backpack he wore then looked back up at you. “Maybe I can get some ideas from the Swollen Eyeball Network. That’s my secret organization. Don’t tell anyone.”

You just nodded and moved to sit on your knees to watch him. 

“The good thing is we know the dream catcher works. The bad thing is he is reaching through you to cut those strings. I’m afraid of what might happen if he is able to cut all of them,” Dib rambled on as he typed. As he spoke, you started to take notice of a feature of his. That hair. The lightning bolt-shaped black hair. How could you have missed that? It made you think of… _ His _… It was uncanny as if this was- Wait a minute… Was this kid-?

“Y/N?” The boy turned his large eyes up to you as if he expected you to answer.

“Huh?!” you snapped out of the trance-like state the hair put you in. “What? Sorry!”

“How long did you sleep?” he repeated.

“F-Four hours. I think I fell asleep around two…”

“One for each hour…” Dib murmured, turning back to the screen. “We’re going to have to get more dream catchers until we know how to deal with this. At least you get some sleep while wearing the dream catcher. We just have to make sure you don’t exceed eight hours or get knocked out cold.”

“Knocked out cold…?”

Your hand immediately covered the abrasion. The hit on the glass. It had to be him. He was trying to make you lose consciousness.

“I have a theory that some paranormal happenings leak out from other dimensions,” he explained. “What you are experiencing might be proof that my theory is correct! This being is somehow manifesting himself out of his own dimension and into ours. The only question I have is how?”

“And why! I don’t even know what I did to get his attention!” you snapped, running both hands over your head anxiously.

“From what you’ve said in your post, he seems infatuated with you. It’s why I suggested looking for your nightmare version to see if that will get him to leave you alone.”

As Dib went on about it, you started to feel more and more uneasy. If this thing really was infatuated with you, there was probably little chance that anything else would get his attention. Why didn’t he find the nightmare version of you, to begin with? Then there was the idea that if this was Professor Membrane’s kid, how creeped out would he be if you told him it was the nightmare version of his father chasing you? How was this just a coincidence?!

“Now that I think about it, it might be safer if we went back to my place. My dad has a dimensional scope that caused my situation. He’s updated it greatly since I last used it and I’m sure if we keep it on a low setting, we could search for nightmare you safely. That way, when we do have to go in, it won’t be for a prolonged period of time. The sooner we unite whatever is after you with your other self, the sooner he’ll leave you alone and go back to your life.”

“Back… at your place…?” you repeated under your breath. 

“Yeah, we’ll have to do it now. You’re already rested and Dad left for work before I tracked your address so this would be the ideal time for us to do this. He doesn’t like when I use his equipment for the paranormal and all.”

You were thankful that the buses ran late downtown and into the suburbs. With Nightmare Membrane pulling what he was, you didn’t feel safe driving. Plus, four hours of sleep didn’t really help. The last thing you needed was to get into a crash with the possible son of a beloved, world-renowned scientist.

The doubt of who Dib was was quickly put to rest once you entered the house the boy led you to. At first, you were willing to believe that this was the home of a rabid fan but the family photos of the man with his two children lining the walls made it clear that this was the Membrane household and you were, in fact, with the only son of the scientist. Now you had to wonder if Nightmare Membrane also had children and if he was as good as a father as the pictures made Membrane out to be. That… would be strange.

“Oh, yeah,” Dib scratched the back of his head when he caught you staring at a picture of Membrane holding his two kids. “Should have told you about that. Professor Membrane is my Dad.”

“The hair was kind of a giveaway. If he didn’t have that collar up all the time, I bet you’d look just like him, er- or he’d look like you?” you sideglanced the boy with an amused expression. Dib gave a bashful laugh before clearing his throat and beckoning you toward the kitchen. 

“This way! The lab is downstairs. Just stay close. Dad’s constantly adding onto it so it can get a bit overwhelming.”

“How very… Sarah Winchester of him…”

Dib led you through the kitchen and down a narrow staircase into the basement of the house where an ominous blue light glowed at the bottom. Your eyes widened in amazement at the room you entered. It looked more like the lair of a superhero like Iron Man than a normal basement. Blue and white machines and inventions littered the room in organized chaos, machines that looked lightyears ahead of their time. 

“Wow…” you breathed, pausing to look into a vat where a hamster floated freely with it while munching on food pellets. “Your dad cranks things up to eleven, doesn’t he?”

“Yeah, he tends to do that. Anyway, the thing we need is over here!” Dib pointed into another room that only opened up the lab even further. You had to wonder if Membrane owned the houses adjacent to his or if the lab was so far down that the owners didn’t even know. You followed the boy to what looked like a contemporary green gaming computer chair sitting before a robotic arm that held a visor of some sort.

“The new addition is this panel!” Dib jumped up on the chair and hit a button on the computer’s arm which caused the floor in front of the chair to open up and a control panel rose up. The more you looked at it, the more you began to think of a video game setup. Dib pressed another button under the first one and joysticks appeared on either side of the chair.

“... You’re father’s a gamer, isn’t he?” you narrowed your eyes at the boy who shrugged.

“Kind of, I guess. But he made all of this so he could wander around the dimensions he’s been visiting,” Dib plopped down into the chair and started to mess with the control panel. “I think I remember the coordinates of the nightmare realm. I mean, once you’ve been traumatized by something, you remember it like the back of your hand.”

He let out a wheezy snicker and pressed his eyes against the visor to look through it.

“So… Once we find my nightmare self… what do we do then? How do we get ahold of them?” you leaned over the side of the chair to watch him.

“I’ve been thinking about that and I think I have an answer!” Dib pulled away from the visor and pointed across the room at an archway. “I think I can link up the exact coordinates to the portal creator Dad was working on and we can go from there. Granted, we’d have to be extremely careful since he hasn’t tested it yet and we would have to be in and out before your nightmare boyfriend even knows we’re there!”

You felt your face redden some at that comment.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” your eyes darted in his direction. 

“I know, I know,” he chuckled then turned back to the visor. “He clearly wants to be though.”

“Don’t make me shove you into the nearest locker,” you growled under your breath which only made the boy snicker again.

“My head will get stuck before you’d get the door closed,” he grinned. “I got a pretty big head if you hadn’t noticed, so good luck with that.”

You couldn’t help but laugh.

“Wow. Didn’t think someone your age can learn to laugh at yourself like that. I’m impressed.”

It felt like an eternity for Dib to find the right dimension and you were quickly beginning to realize that four hours of sleep was not enough to stave off the feeling of being tired. You could feel it looming at the back of your eyes, coaxing you into ‘another quick nap’. God that sounded so good...

“Seems like Dad updated the UI for the dimensional scope too. It’s having to reupload some drivers and we should be in business,” Dib side glanced you only to snap his head in your direction. You were leaning against the chair with your arms crossed and your head bowed, eyes shut. “Hey. Hey! Y/N! Open your eyes!”

He reached over to shake you when you didn’t respond only to freeze at the sound of something snapping. Glancing down, he watched as the sixth string of the dream catcher was cut. The fifth one was already severed, leaving only two more strings left. 

“He’s moving faster now. He must know we’re trying something…” he gasped and continued to try to shake you awake. When that didn’t work, he glanced down to see how you were standing, noticing you were supporting most of your weight on one leg. The other had been crossed at the ankle with the tip of your shoe against the floor. Without a second thought, he jumped up in the seat then used both hands to push your shoulder away from the seat. “Sorry about this!”

“Hm?” you turned your head with your eyes still shut but the falling feeling caused them to snap open right before you hit the floor. “Whoa- WHAT?!”

Well, you were awake now. Your heart slammed against your chest as adrenaline pumped through you from the rush. When you glanced up, you found Dib staring at you with a terrified expression.

“What!? What is it?! What’s wrong?!” you swiveled your head around quickly.

“You can’t fall asleep again!” he pointed at the dream catcher. Lifting it up, you saw what he did and your eye twitched heavily. “It hasn’t even been an hour yet!”

“Damn it!” you growled. You quickly got to your feet and went back to the chair. “Did you find it yet?”

“What I was saying before you fell asleep was the UI is being updated-” he tried to explain but a soft beeping from the panel interrupted him. “Nevermind, that’s it! Okay, maybe now we can get somewhere!”

Dib went back to the visor and you watched him anxiously. His hands scuttled quickly over the panel and a smirk made you perk up.

“Got it! Okay, it looks like I’m in the basement of my place. We’re going to have to navigate out of here and find your nightmare version. Hopefully, that’s not too hard-”

He was again interrupted by a piece of machinery that rose up from behind the panel and with some sort of scanner at the end of it.

_ “Identity scan needed for the search process,” _ a monotone voice announced which made Dib flinch hard. _ “Please hold still.” _

“Blast… I was hoping Dad didn’t do anything like this…” Dib groaned as a blue light scanned him quickly.

_ “Identity confirmed. Finding entity. Entity found.” _

“Wait, what?” you muttered. Dib glanced between you and the visor before looking into it.

“Hey! That’s my nightmare version! Dad must’ve been experimenting with finding other versions of himself!” he exclaimed, pulled away from the visor then jumped out of the chair and turned to you. “This is great! We’ll find your version in no time! Here!”

Dib took your hand and motioned for you to sit down before going back to the panel and initiating another scan, this time scanning you from top to bottom. When you looked into the visor, you could see a twisted, lumpy being wrapped in a straight jacket wandering around a dark, dank cell with twisted surroundings. He had a couple of Dib’s features, such as his hair and glasses, but other than that, you really couldn’t see many similarities, not like you could with Membrane and his version. 

_ “Identity confirmed. Finding entity. Entity found,” _the voice rang out again. The scene moved so quickly that it made your head spin and you had to pull away to shake it off. When you returned to the visor, you began to take in the surroundings.

It was outside now, a bright, full moon hung in the violent purple sky framed with black clouds. The flora looked as twisted and dead as the previous visions but this time, something caught your eye. Decorating the landscape were strange but distinguishable stones and your heart dropped into the pit of your stomach when you realized where you were.

“What do you see?” Dib asked, leaning on the arm of the chair. You swallowed hard before answering him.

“Ah… I-I think it’s a cemetery…”

“A cemetery?” he put his hand to his chin. “Can you get any details? Anything at all? Do you see anyone?”

You shook your head.

“Hm. We might have to fire up the portal arch and slip in to see why it brought us to a cemetery.”

A morbid thought passed through your head but you shook it off. Maybe you were a gravedigger? There was that possibility. You didn’t want to think of what you had to do next if your nightmare self was dead. Your stomach began to churn with uncertainty. 

Dib typed something into the panel, causing a piece of paper to print up with a handful of coordinates which he snatched up and rushed for the archway. You pushed yourself up to follow and watched the boy type the numbers into a number pad beside the machine.

“If this works, we should end up in the exact spot the visor showed.”

“And if it doesn’t work?” you raised a brow. Dib rolled his eyes up in thought.

“Well… one of two things. It’ll either short out and cause a rolling blackout or cause an explosion big enough to wipe out all of humanity,” he explained as he made sure everything was in its place. 

“What?!”

“The latter hasn’t happened yet, Dad just puts that disclaimer on everything he does so people will have a good idea of what they’re getting themselves into,” Dib shrugged. “The blackouts are more common than anything.”

“Still…” you muttered, looking back at the visor.

“Having second thoughts?” Dib frowned. “Remember, this might be the only way to dispose of your stalker. You saw what he did with your dream catcher. He’s not going to just stop chasing you.”

Your eyes scanned the lab around you. So much technology that was far beyond its time. The man who put all of this together was an absolute genius. Would it be foolish to think he could help with this? If he knew other dimensions existed, could he maybe have a key to stop them from bleeding into yours?

“But… what if he’s forced to?”

“What?”

“Your dad may not believe in the paranormal or anything, but he does know other dimensions exist right? What if he could help with this?”

“That’s if he doesn’t brush it off immediately though,” Dib replied. “Yeah, my dad is the smartest man in the world, but when it comes to something like this, he may not listen. He’ll know we’ve been down here too so if we went to him now, he could shut down the equipment we’ll need and you may not have a way to deal with this other than letting this being take you.”

The distinct sound of a door opening and shut upstairs made both of you jump. 

“I don’t care, Simmons. You can tell them we are not testing on animals anymore. It’s willing human volunteers or nothing at all!” Professor Membrane’s voice boomed, sounding a bit irritated. He must’ve been on the phone since no other voice followed.

“Dad’s home?!” Dib gasped quietly, then snapped his head to you. “Look, we’ve got to do this now! What are we doing?!”

You bit your lip hard. Now you had a choice. You either **A.** go through the portal and try to mend this from that end, hoping Nembrane doesn’t catch you or **B.** go to Dib’s father and hope he’d listen without dooming you to whatever Nembrane had planned.

If you chose A., go to Chapter 3.

If you chose B., go Chapter 4.


	3. Choice A: Dark Devotion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You chose A, the Nightmare Membrane/Reader continuation. If you prefer Membrane/Reader, turn back now and choose B. Otherwise, buckle up kiddies. The feels are real.

“Dib! Gaz! Why is the basement door left opened?” you heard Professor Membrane call out closer now. Glancing between the doorway and the worried boy who flinched at his father’s call, you made your decision. You could hear heavy boots heading your way. 

You didn’t want to risk getting brushed off by the scientist. What were you going to do? How would you even begin to explain what was happening to you? At a loss for an answer, you nodded to Dib.

“Let’s go, hurry,” you motioned to the portal. Dib’s face lit up as he turned a stationary key on a panel attached to the portal arch. Everything in the room began to rock heavily as the machine sparked to life, creating a swirling sky blue portal within the archway.

“Dib! Are you down here? What have I told you about using my equipment?” Professor Membrane’s voice called out. Dib ushered you quickly into the portal and followed close behind.

“Wait, what if he turns off the portal?” you glanced back only for the room to disappear behind you.

“Nembrane should have one in his lab. We’ll just have to be careful not to run into him or Naz,” Dib explained. You tensed up at the mention of ‘Nembrane’. You hadn’t told Dib that he was the one who was chasing you yet. This was going to be awkward as hell.

“Naz?”

“Nightmare version of my sister, Gaz,” Dib glanced at you as your surroundings swirled around you and the air grew cold to the point of seeing your breath once more. Moments later you stood in the middle of the same decrypted cemetery you saw in the visor. The full moon against the violent purple sky bathed everything around you and the boy in silver light, highlighting the graves around you. “Okay, so we have to find out why the dimensional scope brought us here for your coordinates. Let’s split up and look but don’t lose sight of me.”

You nodded and started walking in one direction as Dib walked in the opposite. It was only a couple of steps before your foot landed on something soft. Glancing down, you found a large rectangle of soft, dark soil. Chills ran up your spine. It was a freshly dug grave. A large ornate headstone sat at the top of the grave with a name engraved deeply into the front of it, causing your heart to drop into the pit of your stomach. Your name was written across it with a recent date on it.

* * *

Proceed to Chapter 5. From here on, all chapters pertaining to Choice A will be found in odd-numbered chapters. Even-numbered chapters are reserved for Choice B and you will confuse yourself. 

Easier way to think of this is A is Nightmare Membrane centric while B is Professor Membrane centric. If you want Reader/Nembrane, follow the odd numbers. If you want Reader/Membrane, follow the even numbers.


	4. Choice B: The Beacon in the Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You chose B, the Professor Membrane/Reader continuation. If you prefer Nightmare Membrane/Reader, turn back now and choose A. Otherwise, buckle up kiddies. This situation may be a bit darker than the Nembrane/Reader.

“Dib! Gaz! Why is the basement door left opened?” you heard Professor Membrane call out closer now. Glancing between the doorway and the worried boy who flinched at his father’s call, you made your decision. You could hear heavy boots heading your way. 

There was no guarantee that entering or even starting up the portal could lead to success. You could have been grabbed the moment you stepped foot inside. It was probably best to deal with this in your world, not in someone else’s. With a deep inhale, you turned and walked back to the chair and sat down.

“What are you doing?! We’re going to get caught!” Dib whined, looking between you and the door. 

“I know. And I think this is for the best…” you murmured, staring at the visor as you tried to think of a way to explain the situation to the world’s smartest man. “He wants to help the rest of the world, maybe he can find a way to help me.”

Dib let out a groan as a tall figure appeared in the doorway.

“Dib! What did I say about this room?! What are you even doing-?” Professor Membrane stormed in but paused at the sight of you as you stood from the chair. “Oh… Hello…”

“Don’t be angry with him, please,” you started, gathering your wits as you calmed a quiet panic at the sight of the man. He looked just like  _ him _ , only his coat didn’t reach the floor, nor did it have tendrils sticking out of his shoulders. “He’s only trying to help me.”

“Help you?” Professor Membrane asked as he moved closer to the chair, closer to you. You flinched heavily when he reached out in your direction, making him hesitate a moment before pressing the buttons on the chair’s arm. All of the equipment around you moved back into their rightful spots as the scientist crossed his arms, his voice much softer now. “I think you may need to explain. Over some tea. Upstairs.”

You stared like a deer caught in headlights at the man and gave a quick nod. Professor Membrane stepped aside and ushered you toward the door before turning his head to Dib.

"We are going to talk about this later, young man," he muttered lowly.

"Great," Dib sighed and followed close behind. 

"You... are aware that you have a dream catcher around your neck, yes?"

"Ah... yeah... That's part of the issue... It's... complicated..."

* * *

Proceed to Chapter 6. From here on, all chapters pertaining to Choice B will be found in even-numbered chapters. Odd-numbered chapters are reserved for Choice A and you will confuse yourself. 

Easier way to think of this is A is Nightmare Membrane centric while B is Professor Membrane centric. If you want Reader/Nembrane, follow the odd numbers. If you want Reader/Membrane, follow the even numbers. 


	5. Choice A: Dark Devotion 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From the Portal to the Coffin...
> 
> Cameo appearance by Nightmare Nny, or 'Johnny' as Nembrane calls him. 
> 
> (These chapters are going to be shorter since I'm essentially writing two fics at once.)

You felt your entire body go numb as you stared at the engraved name on the headstone. There was no mistaking it. It was your name with your birthdate on it. Your knees shook and buckled under you as your mind tumbled with thoughts of what could have possibly happened. The soil in your hands was very recent as if whatever was buried here was literally just laid to rest.

“Y/N! We’re not alone!” Dib’s panicked voice shattered the silence. “Run!” 

Breaking out of your thoughts, you forced yourself up to your feet and turned to see Dib bolting toward you. Behind him in close pursuit was a tall, dark slender figure of a man, literally pitch black with angry purple eyes, white and black striped arms and legs with matching… horns… wielding a twisted shovel which he swung constantly, narrowly missing the boy each time. 

“NO NO NO NO NO!” Dib babbled loudly as he serpentined through the headstones, leaping over some to try to put some distance between him and the nightmare but it wasn’t working. The nightmare was just too quick and Dib could only stay inches from the shovel each time.

“Shit!” you growled, looking around for some form of defense. A few graves down was an open grave, awaiting its contents and laying in the dead grass beside it were more shovels. You scrambled to pick one up but when you turned to rush to help the boy, you stopped dead in your tracks. Not ten feet away stood the towering figure in white, his black-gloved arms crossed as he stared directly at you. The tendrils on the bottom of his coat curled and flowed as if the wind was gently blowing. It wasn't. “Y-You!”

“I knew I’d find you here when you disappeared from your dimension,” he chuckled. “I was ecstatic to discover that you came here all on your own.”

Your body locked up in fear. His voice was clearer now and knowing that this was really him filled you with a horrible realization that this could be it for you. Dib’s screams snapped you out of it and just behind the nightmare version of the professor, you saw the boy trip into view. Before he could get up, the nightmare that had been chasing him placed a foot on Dib’s back to keep him pinned down and raised the shovel for a final blow. Dib’s hands gripped and tore at the grass to try to get free before he shut his eyes tightly.

“NO!” you tried to rush forward but Nembrane blocked your path. Despite the fear, you lashed out at him verbally. “That’s basically your son! Don’t let that thing hurt him!”

He glanced over his shoulder at the nightmare and shook his head, causing the nightmare to lower the shovel.

“Just play with him. Keep him distracted,” the taller of the two ordered as he turned his head to you. “... For now.”

Dib’s eyes snapped open wide with fear when he heard Nembrane’s voice.

“Oh no…” he gasped, glancing behind him. Just as he tried to push himself up, the nightmare grabbed him by the ankles and snatched him off the ground. Now upside down, Dib fought to keep himself turned toward you and the nightmare version of his father. “Wait! Wait! Wait! What do you want with them?!”

“That’s none of your concern,” Nembrane answered with his eyes on you. “Johnny, take the boy for a walk but don’t go far. I may need you soon.”

The nightmare nodded and repositioned Dib under his arm before starting to walk off with him. Dib twisted and turned in the nightmare’s grasp as he yelled out for you to run and not worry about him. 

“Dib!” you called after him, once again trying to follow but Nembrane blocked your path. You turned a shaken glare up at the man. “W-What are you going to do with him?!”

“What happens to him, depends on you,” he growled softly, stepping toward you. Panicked, you backed away far enough to stumble onto the fresh soil once again. You lifted the shovel out of reflex to defend yourself. 

“Why are you doing this?!”

The nightmare professor turned his gaze to the headstone behind you but you couldn’t read his emotions. There was nothing to read, his entire face minus his forehead was covered. You turned to look at the grave, remembering what you found and your eyes widened.

“D-Did you do this…?!” you looked back at him. “Did you kill them!?”

Silence fell between the two for a short time and you were just about to take that as a ‘yes’ when he let out a deep, mournful sigh.

“That… is nothing for you to concern yourself with. It’s-” he started but paused when the sound of people talking- or from what you could hear- snarling and griping heading toward you. Glancing off in the distance, you could see a dark group of… things entering a twisted gate on the far end of the cemetery. More nightmares. The group dispersed as if looking for something, causing your fight or flight instincts to kick in. The way each of the moved shoved a very clear image of what they were and what they could possibly do to you if they got ahold of you. Every graphic horror movie started to play in the back of your mind and the cold air wasn’t helping with convincing you that you were safe. A growl from Nembrane startled you, causing you to drop the shovel and turn on your heel to run in the opposite direction.

“Oh, no you don’t!” you heard him snarl. A clawed hand clamped around your wrist and whirled you around to face him and once you did, your other wrist was grabbed. “You are not getting away from me again!”

“Let me go!” you screamed, your eyes shut tightly as you tried to focus on getting loose. Your wrists were pressed together in one clawed hand and Nembrane began to drag you in the direction you tried to run. With his height, it was easy enough for him to pull you up to where your feet were barely touching the ground, most likely done to keep you from running from him or digging your heels into the dirt. “No! Let go! HELP! DIB! SOMEONE!”

“Be quiet!” he hissed darkly, causing you to flinch. “Do you want them to find you?!”

Though you had quieted down at the thought of those things finding you, you didn’t stop fighting.

“No! Please! Just let me go-!” you whimpered, pulling against the clawed hand enough to cause chaffing. Nembrane shook his head and continued to pull you along to a small area that was very reminiscent of a workstation one would see in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It was the workstation of a body snatcher. An old beat-up truck that had no business running was pointed away with various coffins, some opened, some closed waiting to be loaded into the back of it. Nembrane paused, looking at each of the coffins before moving toward an empty one that already had its contents removed. You stared in horror at the opened dark brown coffin lined with a deep red worn-out silk and tried to ground yourself even harder to keep him from tossing you inside. Your voice nearly cracked as you pleaded with him. “Stop! Stop! Don’t! Don’t put me in there! Stop! Please! Professor!” 

Nembrane stopped just at the foot of the coffin, pulling you to where you stood before him. Your eyes were locked with his goggles as his free hand moved to your cheek to caress it. You felt tears push at your eyes as your body trembled heavily. Being shoved into a coffin in the middle of a cemetery, whether you were claustrophobic or not was terrifying. You had no idea if you were going to come out of it or if you were going to be buried alive. 

“Please…! Don’t do this…!”

The hand moved from your cheek, down to your chest where the dream catcher was and you felt a hard tug followed by a snap against the back of your neck. 

“You won’t be needing this here…” he chuckled, showing you the trinket before placing it behind his back. You could see his upper arm flex as crunching followed, indicating he crushed it. Without warning, you were shoved backwards into the coffin. Your body came into contact with the wood under the shallow, soft-looking material, causing you to cry out. Your gaze returned to Nembrane, his body cutting an intimidating figure against the full moon behind him. “Shhhh, we’ll be home soon. You can take this time to catch up on your sleep.”

The dark chuckle that followed felt like a stab to the chest and before you could push yourself up to stop him, he shut the coffin lid.

“NO!”

Several clicks against the sides of the coffins didn’t help your panicked state. You were locked in. You began to beat on the lid the best you could.

“LET ME OUT OF HERE! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!”

The soft reply you got made your skin crawl. It sounded like he was right up against the wood, inches away from our face.

“Watch your oxygen intake, my dear… Those who experience an untimely burial run out of oxygen long before they are discovered due to panicking...”

You immediately covered your mouth, staring at the lid in horror. That’s right. Even in your own world, you’ve read the stories of people who were buried alive and when the living finally found them, it was too late. Tears streaked your face and you let out a heavy sob as you tried to calm down. He wouldn’t let you die now if he was infatuated with you, right? You were no longer in your dimension. The more you tried to convince yourself of this, the more questions were raised that made no sense to you. Regardless of the answers, you were still in deep shit. Your ears perked at his voice once more, now with a commanding tone.

“Johnny. I need your assistance.”

Moments passed before you hear a soft whispering voice but you couldn’t make out what it was saying. 

“Yes. We will be bringing this one back to the lab. Leave the rest. Where is the boy?”

The whispering continued.

“I see... Pity. No matter. It can’t be helped. We will deal with it later. Let’s move before the others find us.”

Your entire body locked up once more. The tone he used made you fear the worst for Dib.

“Oh god…” you whispered. “Dib…”

The coffin started to move, causing you to throw your arms and legs out to stabilize yourself against the walls. When it stopped moving, screeching metal followed. You were placed in the back of the truck. Everything else around you didn’t matter at that point. Dib was front and center of your mind. Were you responsible for another death because of this?

Continue to Chapter 7.


	6. Choice B: The Beacon in the Night 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Something is brewing in the back of your mind...
> 
> (These chapters are going to be shorter since I'm essentially writing two fics at once.)

Silence fell after you told Professor Membrane everything that you were experiencing. You held the wrist with Nembrane’s claw marks tightly in anticipation. Would he believe you? Dib sat across from you with his head leaning against his fist as his free hand ran around the lip of his mug. The expression on his face told you he thought you made the wrong decision. It was angry yet sad at the same time.

The sound of a porcelain mug softly hitting the table made you flinch and look up at the scientist. With a soft hum, he pushed away from the table and moved to your chair, turning it to where you faced him while pulling out what looked like a flashlight from his coat.

“Hold still,” he murmured softly as he switched it on and lifted the small device over your head. You weren’t sure what was happening, but you felt a warm sensation encasing your skull. “I’m sure it’s just stress and lack of sle- WHAT?!”

Professor Membrane dropped the flashlight with a shocked gasp. You could see Dib take a sip from his mug only for his eyes to widen greatly and he spat the drink out.

“WOW!” Dib exclaimed. “What was that?!”

“What?! What is it?” you tensed up, looking between the father and son.

“I-I-I’m not-” Membrane stuttered then cleared his throat. “I’m not exactly sure…”

“It looks like a black hole!” Dib pushed himself away from the table, snatched up the flashlight and turned it on again to run it over your head again. You continued to glance between the two and noticed that Membrane had turned away from you with a hand on his own head and he was muttering, rambling quickly under his breath. Your face fell hard at his reaction. That was not good coming from the world’s smartest man. “It swirls like a black hole too! This must be how your stalker is getting through!”

You gave Dib a horrified look before snatching the flashlight from him and rushing to the nearest mirror which hung in the living room. Flicking it back on, you saw what was beneath your skin; your skull, eyeballs, brain, etc. The only thing out of place was a large black mass at the back of your head. Something tried pushing its way out, causing you to scream and drop the device.

You pulled away from the mirror, one hand over your mouth, the other clutching the back of your head as you backed into a wall and slid down it. There really was something there. 

“Oh god…” you sobbed, fear taking over. Your body curled up tighter against yourself and unconsciously rocked back and forth slightly as you tried to find some logical explanation to what was going on. Your chest began to hurt and your vision began to blur due to tears so when a white form kneeled in front of you, you panicked and screamed, pushing it away. “NO! I’M NOT GOING WITH YOU!” 

“Easy! Easy, calm down,” Professor Membrane’s voice cooed softly. “We’re going to have to go down to Membrane Labs in order to address this. I’m sure I have something there that can remedy this.”

You gripped your head harder with a sob, wiping your eyes to see the man push himself back into a kneeling position.

“I don’t want to disappear or fall asleep and never wake up or whatever he wants me to do!”

“You won’t. I won’t let that happen. But you’re going to have to trust me, okay?” he moved closer. “Understand? I’m here to help.”

You hesitated and nodded. This is what you wanted. You made this choice so you needed to listen to him.

“Good. Now,” he began. What happened next transpired so quickly, it took you a moment for it to register. In one swift move, Professor Membrane scooped you up, one arm under the bend in your legs with the other hooked around your back, and he quickly moved toward the front door. You gripped his coat out of surprise and he grabbed a white and blue ‘ML’ plush blanket from the couch as he passed.

“I’m coming too!” Dib followed closely behind. Membrane tried to argue as he brought you to the passenger seat of a dark blue company car but relented.

“Fine, but you’re grounded once all of this is over!” he waved a hand dismissively after he draped the blanket over your lap and rushed to the driver’s side. 

“YES! Wait, why?” Dib punched the air with both fists but then dropped them when he realized what he was celebrating.

“YOU KNOW WHY!” Membrane pointed over the top of the car at him. “Now get in!”

You sat there in the passenger seat, staring forward as your mind replayed what you saw in the mirror. It had to be Nembrane. He opened... something in your mind and was probably what he used to slam your head into the glass the day before. That movement must've been him trying to get through again... If you glanced next to you, you found Professor Membrane on the verge of road rage as he tried to make his way through traffic to get to his city lab. His hands were gripping the wheel tightly with a finger tapping impatiently on the leather cover. It felt oddly comforting not being the only one worried about this anymore, especially with someone who had the technology to actually help you. 

“Wait, where’s Gaz?” Dib leaned in between the front two seats. 

“With your other father,” Membrane muttered. “Gaming convention. She’s competing in a video game contest.”

“Other… father?” you asked quietly. The first thing that came to mind was that Professor Membrane was married to another man but you didn’t recall seeing any photos of this other man hanging on the walls of the living room.

“Oh! It’s actually a clone of Dad that Zim made-” Dib explained and started to ramble on about the whole Florpus deal. From what you could pull from it, it sounded like it was a failed cloning experiment instead of an actual husband or boyfriend. You had no idea who this ‘Zim’ was and Dib talked about this boy as if you were supposed to know who he was.

“I… think I see?”

Membrane remained silent through the whole explanation and a certain movement from him caught your eye. He buckled his seatbelt and glanced over his left shoulder as if he was going to go around the line of cars in front of him. 

“Dib, are you buckled in?” he growled. Dib immediately went silent before diving back into the back seat without a word. A click answered him. “Good.”

He then reached over you quickly, grabbed your seatbelt and clicked it with one hand. Professor Membrane glanced over his left shoulder again, shifted the car into gear, then drove around the line of cars in front of him… onto the sidewalk. The driver’s side of the car was almost riding the building next to it as he passed a fender-bender that was causing issues. After speeding the rest of the way, Membrane turned the wheel hard and drifted into the parking lot of Membrane Labs, landing right in his designated parking spot near the door. 

You sat there, staring at the dashboard with your hands welded to the sides of the seat as your stomach tried to settle from the whole experience.

“Does he always drive like this?” you asked weakly, slowly turned your head to Dib.

“Sometimes. He goes through company cars like underwear,” he answered. “Brace yourself.”

“What?”

Your door swung open, the seatbelt was undone and you were scooped out of the car in a matter of seconds before being rushed into the building. Once again, you gripped Membrane’s coat, looking frazzled. 

“Told ya!” Dib appeared beside the scientist who was rushing you through the building now, barking orders at people he passed. The tone of his voice was serious and made everyone around him clear away at his command. Others followed his orders to the T. 

“Simmons! Clear a room! Make it a private one! I want a need-to-know basis placed on this situation!”

Continue to Chapter 8.


	7. Choice A: Dark Devotion 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (I'm baaaaaaack... Choice B: A Beacon in the Night 3 is still in the works. I couldn't think of a summary for this, unfortunately. Still getting back in the swing of things.)

The coffin rocked back and forth during the ride as you stared at the lid, trying to regulate your breathing and convince yourself that Dib was still alive. He had to be. Sure, you just met the kid, but he was extremely resourceful for someone his age from the start. Of course, he was. His father was Professor freakin’ Membrane. You had to keep that in mind. There wasn’t any confirmation of him being killed. The whispering could have been anything.  
The sound of brakes screeching softly and the coffin lunging back slightly snapped you out of your thoughts. The truck stopped. What followed was two doors slamming on either side of you with the vehicle rocking. Panic began to rise in your chest and you were quick to stifle it. Wherever they were taking you, you were there. The screeching of the rusted hatch made your body tense up and you felt the coffin move again.  
“No, I don’t believe she knows,” Nembrane muttered softly when his assistant whispered something. “And I would like to keep it that way.”  
She? Who’s she? A door opened somewhere above you when the coffin paused.  
“Hurry. Before Gaz sees.”  
You braced yourself against the sides when the coffin tilted downward. Stairs maybe?  
“Dad?” a new voice called out in the distance. It sounded like a girl’s if it had been through a warped voice changer.  
“Damn,” Nembrane hissed then cleared his throat. “I’ll be right there. I have to go down to the lab!”  
Dad? Oh, right. Dib did say he had a sister and his nightmare self was stuck somewhere in a loony bin for boys.  
“Just wanted to let you know-”  
“Not now, dear! Daddy’s busy!” he called louder and dropped his voice again, this time much harsher. “Go!”  
The coffin jostled hard as Nembrane gave directions on where to put it and it came to a complete standstill.  
“Thank you. Now get back to the graveyard before it raises suspicions.”  
The whispering started again.  
“I already gave you orders for that. Now go!”  
After a moment or two of silence, Nembrane gave a sigh.  
“Finally…”  
Your heart jumped into your throat as you tried to think of what to do the moment the coffin opened. The clicking along the sides made you flinch hard and you braced yourself for the lid to swing open. It didn’t.  
“So, I was right,” a new voice rang out from somewhere above you. It was low and raspy. Something hit the side of the coffin, skewing it from its original placement. “You were planning on doing something stupid.”  
“Oh! Ah, M-Miss Bitters!” Nembrane’s voice stuttered then cleared itself. “W-What, ah, what are you doing here? In my lab? I-I-I don’t normally allow anyone down here-”  
“You’ve been acting suspicious for a long time now.”  
“Suspicious? I’m not acting suspicious!”  
“Really? Open the coffin.”  
“Oh, there’s nothing in there. Just a body that I need to dismember. Nothing more.”  
“Open it.”  
A long silence followed before a couple of more clicks pricked your ears and the lid was slowly lifted. You quickly sat up and breathed a sigh of temporary relief, filling your lungs generously with air. It was stale and musty, but it was air nonetheless. It took a moment or two for you to register that there was a large, grotesque figure in purple with ashy brown skin and a long face with purple glasses looming over you with sharp teeth bared.  
I knew it!” Nightmare Bitters bellowed in your face, causing you to scramble backward in terror. You were grabbed by the waist, hoisted up and turned away from the creature by Nembrane. He was now between you and Nightmare Bitters. If you tried to pull away, you found a glass wall behind you, encasing several dark empty cells. The nightmare’s continuous screeching caused you to cling to Nembrane more out of reflex.  
“I knew you were going to try this! Do you realize what you’ve done?!”  
You felt Nembrane begin to embrace you as Nightmare Bitters ranted on. He remained quiet, only glaring over his shoulder toward the being.  
“Oh, this is just perfect! One of the anomalies that we’ve been hunting just happens to be another version of your ex! You lured them here, didn’t you?! I can’t believe you’d be so reckless!”  
“Ex…?” you murmured under your breath. That explained the reaction you got back at the cemetery when you asked about the situation with your nightmare’s grave. Now, was it something that couldn’t be helped or did he kill your nightmare and regret doing it? Nightmare Bitters advanced toward the two of you to emphasize her point, causing you to cling harder to him from the sight of the thing raising over the two of you. Nembrane to turn to hide you from her.  
“You’re scaring them,” Nembrane warned darkly. “Stop.”  
“Of course I’m scaring them! This is not their world! They do not belong here!” she shrieked. “What if he comes for them!?”  
“He is not even in their life at this point! I made sure of it before I pursued them!” the professor snapped viciously back. Now, who was ‘he’? With the way things looked, perhaps it was someone who could have stepped in and stopped all of this before it happened? That also made you wonder how many more versions of you he went looking for if there was this guy that kept him at bay.  
“That creature will not replace what you’ve lost! They are just as terrified of you as they are of me!”  
“They’ll learn to get over it!”  
“Even if they did, this is a fruitless endeavor! They cannot reside in our world, not without the constant threat of death or mutilation!”  
“I will protect them. Whoever wishes them harm will have to answer to me on the dissection table!” Nembrane’s voice became angrier by the second to the point that his voice shook the room.  
“They will never love you, not like the one you lost did! They will always be terrified of you no matter what you do! This is your only chance to send them back where they came from, Membrane! If you decline, whatever happens to them falls on your head!”  
You winced. Even if it may have been true at that moment, telling someone that another would never love them was a bit harsh. A long pause followed. You could feel one of Nembrane’s clawed hands clench the back of your shirt.  
“Get out of my house,” he growled, his tone dark and low. “And if anyone comes here looking for them, I will kill them on sight. You can tell the others that, too.”  
“What are you going to do?! Keep them locked up here-?!”  
“I SAID GET OUT!” Nembrane turned and bellowed at the nightmare. You had to cover your ears from how loud he got. You could also swear the collar of his coat had come apart as well but you were not in a position to see what was beyond it. Nightmare Bitters snarled.  
“Fine. But know this. If I find them out and about in our town, I’ll slaughter them myself then deal with you! You have doomed us all for allowing two outsiders into our world!”  
The nightmare moved for the stairs and disappeared. You couldn’t help but stare after her. What she said caused chills to rush up your spine and your stomach churned. You really were trapped now. Nembrane’s claw relaxing on your back brought you back to the current situation and without a second thought, you pushed away from him.  
“What the hell-!?” you started, trying to grasp what just happened. Nembrane put his hands up as he approached you. You stepped away with a glare on him.  
“I can explain everything-” he replied in a calmer tone.  
“First, I find that I’m being stalked by something from another world, then you tried to murder me in my own dimension which doesn’t make any damn sense and then I had to enlist the help of-!” you started to rant but then paused. Dib! “Where’s Dib?!”  
“I assure you that-”  
“Is he dead?!”  
“No, he’s not dead. Yet. He just got away from Johnny back at the cemetery,” Nembrane sighed. He went on to explain something but you didn’t hear any of it. Your attention turned to the stairs. That meant the boy was still out there with murderous nightmares. Despite the threat of death, you couldn’t leave Dib out there. Your body moved to the stairs as if on autopilot which was only disturbed by your wrist being snatched with cold metal.  
“Did you not hear what that woman said?!” Nembrane chided. You immediately jerked your arm away. “You will be killed!”  
“I am not leaving Dib out there with those monsters!” you snapped back. The fact that he had only taken you because you were another version of his ex steeled your nerves. You only hoped that Nembrane didn’t kill this version out of annoyance. You knew you were pretty hard-headed at times. It was amazing that no one had done it in your dimension already. Nembrane rushed forward to block the path.  
“You are not leaving this house either! I will not lose you again!”  
You tried to keep hold of those steeled nerves but Nembrane alone was terrifying. With all of your strength, you exhaled.  
“You can’t keep me here.”  
“Yes, I can!” he replied quickly, almost childishly while crossing his arms tightly with shoulders raised.  
“No, you can’t! As long as that boy is out there, I will do everything in my power to get to him,” you glared up at him, failing to hide that you were physically trembling from the situation.  
“Well…” Nembrane brought a hand up to where his chin would be in a thoughtful pose, leaving part of the stairwell unblocked. You took full advantage of this and dove through the small opening, shoving the larger being aside into the wall to bolt to the top of the stairs. “No! Y/N! Wait! I’ll have him brought here!”  
The panicked tone he used made you stop in your tracks. It sounded very genuine. Looking back, you saw Nembrane nearly laying on the stairs as if it had been a desperate attempt to scramble after you and he stopped when you did. His goggles were contorted in a way that mimicked concern.  
“Just please, don’t go out there! I’ll have Johnny find him and bring him in! I swear, no harm will come to him by either of our hands but I can’t promise what the other nightmares might do to him…” he pleaded. He pushed himself to his feet and tried to close the gap between the two of you. You backed away into what seemed to be the living room as he grew closer.  
“You know he’s not going to come willingly if either of you goes looking for him,” you reminded him. Dib was too smart. There was no way he was going to go with someone who just attacked him. Nembrane went to argue but paused once again.  
“Yes, there is that… But you are not leaving this house to find him.”  
“No, I’m-” you pressed but Nembrane crossed his arms again. His domineering demeanor returned.  
“I will find a different way for you to contact the boy. For now, make yourself comfortable. You are going to be here for a long, long while,” he growled, shutting the basement door behind him and sweeping past you. Anger rose in your chest. This was becoming more and more confusing.  
“What is your deal?!” you turned, eyes glaring through his back. “Did you keep your version of me under lock and key too?! Is that how they died?!”  
You saw his shoulders tense up hard. He whirled around quickly and advanced on you, causing you to stumble back in fear. Seemed you struck a nerve.  
“How dare you! I never harmed them!” he snarled. You stared up at him, eyes wide in terror as you fell into the basement door.  
“Y-You could have fooled me!” you yelled back, shutting your eyes tightly to brace yourself for anything he was about to do. “You tried to kill me in my dimension! How do you think that paints your relationship with them?!”  
“I didn’t-!” he started then paused and backed off. He pinched the bridge of his ‘nose’ and calmed his tone. “I did not know how to bring you here and I was experimenting with my options. I did not mean to harm you otherwise. I’m sorry. I did not have time to find out a better way, not without being caught.”  
You slowly opened one eye to look at him as he explained.  
“Then… how did they die?” you muttered lowly. Damn your curiosity. Once again, Nembrane fell silent but ended it with a sigh.  
“I would rather not get into that. Not right now. Just know I never harmed you- er, them, in any way. What happened back in your dimension will not happen again.”  
You were torn. Part of you felt like you deserved an explanation as to what had happened to the other you yet another part didn’t want to pry. You had something more important to deal with: Finding Dib.  
“Heh, knew it. Dib owes me ten bucks,” a voice with a slight drawl made you and Nembrane glance back to the doorway of the kitchen. There stood the form of something that looked like it could have once been human, a human girl to be exact with sickly pale skin and jaw length magenta hair that twisted this way and that. The first thing you noticed was that the small being did not have a bottom jaw, or one that was visible nor any lips. A single row of unprotected teeth lined the upper jaw in a permanent smile. She wore a black dress with striped purple and white sleeves and a skull necklace around her neck. Her purple legs were bent in the opposite direction, reminiscent of the hind legs of a quadrupedal animal and her eyes were shut tightly, though her gaze seemed to be on a device in her sharp hands. It resembled a gaming device that was not any different than the ones in your world. “I tried to warn you that Miss Bitters was here, Dad. You could have hidden them up in the second-floor guest room.”  
It was hard not to stare at the girl and you felt bad for doing so. Nembrane straightened up and cleared his throat.  
“Yes. Well. Y/N, this is my daughter, Gazlene,” he started, motioning to her. “She will help keep you company while we figure out how to make your stay more comfortable.”  
As he spoke, you felt compelled to raise a hand in a weak wave but stopped at his comment. ‘Your stay’.  
“I’m not staying here,” you shot him a look. “It’s as that… thing… said. I need to be back in my own dimension with Dib.”  
“Gaz, why don’t you show Y/N to their bedroom for the time being,” he replied, completely ignoring your protest. Nembrane turned on his heel and headed for the door. “I have business to take care of back at the cemetery.”  
“Wait a minute, you can’t just-!” you tried to follow as he ducked out of the front door. The loud sound of a lock clicking shut made you jump and run to the door, only to find it locked. “What the-?!”  
“Dad modified it just before you got here,” Gaz called out behind you. “He made sure no one can get out or in without a key.”  
You spun around to look at the girl in horror. Did that mean he planned on coming after you himself if you didn’t come here first?  
“Then… Y-You have a key, right?” you asked suddenly. You hoped like hell that Nembrane wasn’t the type to lock up his own kids- Oh. Yeah. Nib was locked up in a crazy house. The girl smirked, or at least what you thought was a smirk accompanied by a creepy giggle, before producing a key from under her shirt that hung around her neck.  
“Of course I do. Can’t let you have it though. Dad would be devastated if he came home to find you gone.”  
Your eyes locked on the key as it glinted in the light and your mind raced.  
“Surely there isn’t anything I could do to get it, huh?” you swallowed.  
“There’s nowhere out there for you to go. You heard Miss Bitters. You will be killed on sight. You might as well just get comfortable. You’re going to be here for a LONG time.”  
You watched as the girl slipped the key under her shirt before tilting her head.  
“With that said, how about we play some video games until Dad comes back?”

Continue to Chapter 9...


	8. Choice B: The Beacon in the Night 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one took so long! Onward with Prof. Membrane's path!

Within the hour, you were changed into a universal patient gown, placed in a private room on a comfy padded chair, and saw about several other doctors who hooked you up to a plethora of machines that encompassed you from behind. The chair itself could be laid back when you weren’t hooked up to the machines but it wasn’t hard to get comfortable with the incline it was at with the leg rest up. It reminded you of a mix of a dentist’s chair and a lazy boy recliner. Professor Membrane himself now sat on a stool beside you and applied a handful of brown patches across your arm.  
“What are those?” you asked, your eyes locked on his hands instead of the patches he left. You couldn’t help but watch as his hands work. There was something… strange about them. They moved like human hands but didn’t at the same time. Thinking back to when he carried you, you couldn’t remember if you noticed anything about them as you were too panicked. You were wondering if it was rude to ask about them but thought it best not to since there was no indication that they weren’t human hands.  
“Caffeine patches,” he announced. “Each one is packed with over 800 milligrams of caffeine which will slowly release into your system to keep you awake. We don’t want you to fall asleep until we know what we are dealing with.”  
Your brow furrowed with concern.  
“Is… that safe?”  
“I would not use them if I knew they would harm you. The scans we took earlier prove you could handle these with little to no side effects.”  
“Side effects?”  
“Oh- jitteriness, nervousness, stomach irritation, increased heart rate, insomnia, full organ shut down, hemorrhaging, the usual caffeine side effects,” he waved a hand. Your face slowly fell at what he listed off. Part of you wanted to lean over the bed and look up ‘can caffeine cause hemorrhaging/full organ shut down?’ on your phone. You were about to swear off the stuff if that were the case. Professor Membrane noted your terrified expression, to which he gave a soft, warm chuckle. “But I assure you that there is only a minimal chance for that to happen.”  
“Uh...huh…” you forced a smile.  
“Now, most of these will be inactive until you pull this little tab,” he gently took your arm to lift it, showing a line of six. He flicked a small tab on the side of the first patch before pulling it to activate it. You gave a nod but before you could ask anything else about what was going on or being planned to help you, a familiar ringtone echoed off the walls of the small room. With a glance at the small table next to you, you saw Tenna’s number on the screen. “Oh! That reminds me!”  
Professor Membrane pulled out a light blue Membracelet with an ‘ML’ logo on the side from his labcoat’s pocket and went to reach for your wrist only to pause at the darkened mark that your nightmare made.  
“Ah, would you mind if-?” he muttered, nodding toward it. It took you a moment to realize what he was referring to.  
“Hm? Oh yes. It doesn’t hurt, if that’s what you mean…” you offered your arm to him. The mark had already been scanned and declared benign thankfully, just discoloration of the area so the idea of covering it up really didn’t bother you. The less you saw of it, the better. Professor Membrane carefully clasped the Membracelet around your wrist and powered it on. After a moment or two of calibrating it, the call came through the bracelet instead of your phone. He turned to his own Membracelet and started to fiddle with it as he spoke.  
“This is a special type of Membracelet that we are testing here at the labs for future patients. It will help me monitor your health when I am away and alert me to your status, be it awake or asleep, blood pressure, heart rate, and so on. I have also programmed my personal number and a help button if you need to get a hold of me or any of the staff while you are here. You should be able to use it as a normal Membracelet too.”  
“Wow... Thanks,” you murmured in awe, letting everything he said sink in. You turned the screen of the high tech bracelet and answered the call. “Hello?”  
A hologram sprang forth from the screen which caused you to jump and the light blue bust of a freaked out-looking Tenna appeared.  
“Finally! It’s about time you answered! I thought something bad had happened to you! Where are you?!” She demanded.  
“Long story,” you sighed. “Too long. I’m…” you started but paused with a glance at Professor Membrane. When he caught your eye, he nodded, giving you the okay to say where you were. “I’m actually at Membrane Labs under quarantine.”  
“Seriously? Why?”  
“Remember that little… issue I’ve been having?...”  
It took nearly an hour to explain the short version of everything that had happened to you since you last saw Tenna, partly due to Tenna making jokes out of some of the instances or not wrapping her head around what you just said and needed clarification. Halfway during the explanation, Dib had wandered in with drinks and pudding cups from the cafeteria and sat on the leg rest of the chair to watch the hologram. His father had been pulled out of the room by one of the other doctors but quietly announced that he would return soon.  
“Don’t forget to tell her about what happened to the dreamcatcher!” Dib whispered urgently as he glanced back to the door. He looked as if he was expecting his father to come in to stop him.  
“Oh! Yeah. Tenna, I’m sorry to say the dream catcher you lent me went the way of the Dodo…”  
“Huh? What do you mean?”  
That took another forty-five minutes to explain. Dib pushed himself up to move closer to the hologram. You could see it in his eyes that he had an epiphany.  
“Tenna, was it? Hey, where did you get that dreamcatcher?”  
You knew the moment Tenna’s eyes settled on Dib, you’d never hear the end of it.  
“HOLY JEEZUMS! LOOK AT THE HEAD ON HIM! DAYMN!” Tenna suddenly screamed when the hologram turned to look at the boy. “HOW DO YOU WALK THROUGH DOORS?!”  
“Tenna!” you hissed, trying hard to keep a straight face. Dib didn’t look very amused and only cleared his throat.  
“My head is not that big, thank you, but I would really like to know where you got the dreamcatcher you lent Y/N.”  
“How do you not stretch out the collar of your shirts? Do you test them on watermelons first or-” Tenna continued inquisitively.  
“Tenna, just answer him,” you rolled your eyes.  
“Okay, okay. Lemme think. I think I got that as a gift from my grandparents for my last birthday. I know they stressed about how ‘authentic’ it was.”  
“Can you get any more?”  
“Yeah, I probably can.”  
“Great! See if you can get a couple of dozen!” Dib exclaimed as he pushed himself off the leg rest. “I can meet you outside of Membrane Labs when you get them! I’ll also try to talk to the Swollen Eyeballs to see if we can dig up any anti-sleep aids until then!”  
“Alright, we meet at 1800 hours tomorrow!” Tenna lowered her voice in a serious tone as if she were some secret agent. This shoved a clear image of both Dib and Tenna standing in a park, both donned in black, buttoned-up trench coats, sunglasses, and fedoras while facing away from one another as if they were there to do an information swap. “Codeword is Spooky. Tenna out!”  
Before you could get a word in, Dib had already bolted out of the room and Tenna hung up, causing her hologram to disappear, leaving you alone. You were left to your thoughts and the humming of the machines behind you.  
“What now?” you sighed under your breath, glancing down at the patches on your arm while you reflected on everything that happened. The wires attached to your head, shoulders, and arms made you wonder if the machines behind your head would really keep your nightmare at bay. You also couldn’t help but wonder how Professor Membrane would react if he saw what the nightmare looked like.  
As your mind wandered, something started to happen that made you question if it actually was there or not. Out of the corners of your eyes on either side of you, you could see something creeping slowly into view but when you looked, it was gone. It didn’t happen just once. Any time you looked forward, it happened. Whatever it was looked spindly like fingers of outstretched hands. Chills raced down your spines and thoughts began to race through your head. Was it getting worse or was it just your mind playing tricks on you?  
A soft knock on the door caused you to jump and glance up to see Professor Membrane lean into view with a blanket draped over his arm.  
“Seems like visiting hours are over,” he chuckled when he found no one else in the room. You couldn’t help but smile weakly with a sigh of relief as he moved toward you. It was probably best not to bring it up in case it was just your imagination so you strengthen your smile.  
“Yeah, I guess. They went on a mission to find more dream catchers.”  
“I see. Well, while that might bring some peace of mind, I would rather rely on more scientific methods to keep you safe,” he explained before draping the blanket over your legs and lap. “Here, it tends to get cold in here.”  
“Thank you. What did you have in mind? For the methods, I mean?”  
Professor Membrane pulled the stool he was sitting on earlier closer to your chair with a sigh.  
“We are still trying to figure that out. You are the first-ever case that has a connection to another dimension through a body part so we’re flying blind at the moment. I can only hope the caffeine patches will have some effect,” he explained as he gently took your arm. “That and the shock treatment the machine behind you will give if it detects that you have fallen asleep.”  
“Great,” you muttered deadpan as you side-eyed the machine. The clicking of a pen made you glance back at the scientist to see that he had pulled out a notepad from his lab coat and began to write something down.  
“Worst case scenario- well, scratch that. I would like to keep your anxiety and stress levels low. I see no need to upset you over something that has less of a 3% chance of happening,” he explained while dismissively waving his hand then cleared his throat.  
Gee thanks, you thought sarcastically. Not like you wouldn’t worry over what the worst-case scenario would be.  
“Now, if you don’t mind, I would like you to think back to when all of this started to see if there’s a chance you may have run into something that caused that dimensional rift in your head. An interaction with something radioactive, perhaps.”  
Back when all of this started? You fell silent as you turned your gaze to your lap and tried to figure out how far back would constitute ‘the beginning’.  
“Take your time,” the scientist assured you. “If it takes hours, then so be it. I’ve already cleared my schedule of everything else until this is eradicated. Don’t leave anything out either. Even the smallest detail may help.”  
“Oh… Well…” you started with a deep breath. It was probably going to take said hours but you noticed, the more you talk to the man, the less worried you were about the thing in the back of your head. In fact, if you thought about it, the nightmare thing hadn’t made itself known since you came in contact with the scientist. For some odd reason, Professor Membrane made you feel very safe as if he was keeping this thing at bay. You really hoped that was the case.


End file.
